Page 13 of Fine, Dork

She sighed and straightened her shoulders. “I am fucking interesting, aren’t I?” Kinley flashed me a grin.

“Were you crying?” I asked gently.

Kinley shrugged. “There’s no point in lying to you, huh?”

I smiled and shook my head.

“Right, so sometimes I don’t know where I belong. Usually, it doesn’t get to me, but it’s hitting me hard tonight.” She sighed and ran her hands through her hair. “I think there’s a place that I want to belong, but I don’t know if I fit, and it scares the shit out of me.”

Her words surprised me. Also, they didn’t. All of the guys and partying in high school and college screamed that she wanted to fit in. She was hot and fun, so she used it to belong, but Kinley was different when we were alone. She turned into this deep, thoughtful person with an intoxicating thirst for life. Where did the real K want to belong?

“Isn’t photography and traveling the world where you fit?” I asked.

“I mean, yeah. I love it. But all of the places I go are just dots on a map. I capture their beauty, but they don’t belong to me.” Kinley looked down at the camera in her hands and mindlessly scrolled through the photos. She glanced back up at me suddenly. “I want something that belongs to me, something beautiful that I can keep.”

Kinley’s eyes bore into mine, and my heart raced. I swallowed. “Are you talking about a place or a person?”

“Both.” The brown in her eyes swirled into gold. The air in the room turned heavy, and it sizzled with some unspoken feeling. Then she snapped her eyes shut, and the magic was gone. Kinley slowly opened her eyes again and forced a smile. “Or maybe neither. Maybe I don’t know what the hell I’m talking about. I hardly ever do.”

“That’s not true.”

Kinley laughed. “I’m an idiot, J. I barely graduated high school and dropped out of college.”

I shrugged. “You don’t like books and tests. That doesn’t mean you’re an idiot.”

Kinley gave me a sweet smile. “Thanks for always saying stuff like that.” She held out her camera to me. “Do you still want to see the rest of my pictures? You’ve been good today.”

I grinned and took the camera from her outstretched hand. “Where is this pic from?” I turned the camera to show her the photo of a gray harbor filled with tired looking boats. The paint on the boats peeled and lacked color, and the water looked cold and angry, but somehow, the photo still pulled you in and made you want to look.

Kinley smiled. “Alaska. That place is fucking gorgeous, J! You have to come with me sometime.” Her eyes brightened. “You want to come with me to the Amazon next week?”

“You’re heading there for your next job?” I smiled at her. “I already took two weeks off to come here. I’d probably get fired if I took any more time off.” That wasn’t true. I was the best software developer at the company. My boss would find it in her heart to keep me on.

“You and your rules, Jaxon.” Kinley smiled. “Well, you’re invited on every photography trip I take, just so you know.”

“All right. I promise to take you up on that sometime. I like seeing you in action.”

Kinley winked at me and gave me a flirty smile. “Oh baby, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.” Then she laughed and patted my leg. “Should we get back out there, so they don’t think we’re fucking in here?”

I coughed and rubbed the back of my neck. Holy shit.

Kinley burst out laughing and slid off the bed. “Oh my god, your face!” She walked toward the door and turned over her shoulder. “What do you think would happen, though, like if we did sleep together?”

“Fuck, K. Are you serious right now?” It was getting hard to breathe.

Her second laugh was a little quieter and a little more fake. “It’s so fun to tease you.” Then she walked back downstairs.

I took a long deep breath. Right. Kinley was teasing me because sleeping with her dork was a big joke to her. It didn’t matter how much she teased me, flirted with me, or poured her heart out to me. Kinley would never date me. I was fucking friend-zoned for life.

8

Jaxon

I awoke in the middle of the night to Kinley’s warm, sexy ass pressed against my cock. She let out a sleepy sigh and rolled her hips a little.

I fought to hold in a groan. I should have slid away from her or rolled her back to her side of the bed. I shouldn’t have scooted a little closer the way I did. I definitely shouldn’t have pressed a boner into my sleeping best friend’s ass.

But, fuck, it felt good.

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